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The Valdor Tank Hunter is a heavy tank destroyer, named for the legendary Emperor's Legio Custodes commander, Constantin Valdor, which was only just entering service with the Excertus Imperialis in limited numbers and on a trial basis when the Horus Heresy began. Initial production runs were chanelled to the elite Solar Auxilia, in particular those cohorts operating against foes equipped with heavy tanks or in the case of the myriad xenos enemies still infesting the stars, tank analogues. While utilising a familiar chassis on which several other armoured vehicles in the arsenal of the Solar Auxilia were based, the Valdor mounted a devastating Neutron Laser, each a meticulously wrought iteration of a then-recently recovered relic of the Dark Age of Technology. While not yet in common use (at that time), Imperial logisticians had projected that its services were likely to be required in ever greater numbers, especially where Loyalist Solar Auxilia were called upon to fight the Traitor Legiones Astartes and the heavy armoured vehicles they had ready access to. Ancient records found at the Scholastica Bellicose on the planet Mordia show that the Valdor Tank Hunter was most widely used during the Great Scouring after the Heresy, when the Imperium led the great counter-attack against the Traitor Legions, driving them all the way to the Eye of Terror.

The Valdor Tank Hunter is considered an ancient relic in the 41st Millennium, with the number of Forge Worlds able to maintain, let alone construct the Valdor dwindling to just a handful. As a result, they are rarely deployed amongst the Imperial Guard's armoured regiments. The 1st Cadian Armoured Regiment, which helped to defend the Imperial Fortress World of Cadia in the Cadian Gate, possesses a total of only 5 Valdor tanks. During the Siege of Vraks the 88th Siege Army's intelligence officers believed that there was no more than 30 Valdor tanks stored inside of Vraks Prime's vast Departmento Munitorum storehouses, and these tanks were not utilised by the Vraksian Traitor Militia until much later in that terrible, grinding conflict. It is believed that a Dark Magos of the Dark Mechanicus arrived on the planet with the Steel BrethrenChaos Space Marines and helped the Renegades to activate and deploy the Valdor tanks in the Vraksian storehouses. The payment to the Dark Mechanicus for this aid was the provision of a complement of several fully-functional Valdor tanks and what is believed to be a data-core detailing how to construct the Valdor. This means that there is a dreadful possibility that the Valdor Tank Hunter may start appearing in the armies of the Forces of Chaos in the near-future.

Death Korps of Krieg - The 17th and 60th Line Korps of the Death Korps of Krieg fielded several Valdor Tank Hunter in the gruesome war known as the Orphean War, which was fought against the Necrons of the Maynarkh Dynasty. It is unknown if these Tank Hunters were already part of the Death Korps' line of battle, or were requisitioned from Amarah's reserves and pressed into service.

Imperial Guard - The Imperial Guard fielded a large number of Valdor Heavy Tanks during the Great Scouring of the 31st Millennium, and the Guard still fields a small number of Valdors during the 41st Millennium.